Infortar

On 7 September a new Elenger’s LNG bunker vessel was launched in China. After water performance tests, the ship will be ready to arrive to Estonia and will start providing LNG bunkering services to different vessels sailing on the Baltic Sea.

The leading Estonian energy company Eesti Gaas has placed an order for an LNG (liquefied natural gas)  bunker vessel with bunker tank capacity of 6,000 m3.  The new vessel will provide mobile and efficient LNG bunkering for the growing number of LNG-fuelled vessels in the North-East region of the Baltic Sea and onshore clients. The vessel will be built by the Dutch shipyard Damen Group and will be delivered in September 2020. 

“The vessel will load LNG in the Baltic Sea region terminals for distribution in the Baltic area. The vessel will predominantly operate in the Gulf of Finland area, which has a clear need to move towards clean energy supply,” commented Ain Hanschmidt, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Gaas.

Eesti Gaas will operate this LNG bunker vessel under a long term charter from its parent company and owner of the vessel, Infortar AS. The technical management for the vessel will be provided by the region’s leading shipping company Tallink Grupp.

By creating a mobile LNG-fuelling infrastructure, the LNG bunker vessel incentivises the construction and use of new LNG-fuelled vessels in the Baltic Sea Region and, therefore, has the potential to reduce Co2 emissions annually by more than 66 000 tons. 

The two type-C LNG tanks will contain up to 6,000 m³ LNG at -163°C. The tanks and their piping system will be located partly exposed on the deck, which ensures good access and easy upgrade options as the LNG consumer market develops.

The LNG bunker vessel is an important part of the new mobile LNG infrastructure in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. This project is co-funded by the EU through the CEF Transport programme.

Main particulars of the vessel:

LNG cargo tank capacity: ~6000 m3

Deadweight: 3300 t

Length: ~ 99.80 m

Breadth: 18.60 m

Service speed ~13.40 knots

Delivery: September 2020

First truck to ship LNG bunkering operation completed at Port of Tallinn in Estonia. Eesti Gaas, a subsidiary of Infortar, has bunkered (January 25, 2017) for the first time in Estonia, a ship directly from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) truck. The new Tallink Shuttle Megastar was successfully bunkered with LNG in a quick and safe operation. The introduction of bunkering at the Port of Tallinn marks the start of a new era of marine bunkering in Estonia.

“We are all ready to send the ship on the route – all preparations have gone as planned, the employees have received a thorough training and our semi-trailers are driving between the factory and the port,“ said Ants Noot, the executive director of Eesti Gaas.

Eesti Gaas buys liquefied natural gas from the factory in Pskov, to transport and bunker LNG, eight modern semi-trailers were ordered from Germany, all of them equipped with powerful cryogenic pumps. Eight trucks – four en route to Tallinn and four to Pskov – are in constant movement. Megastar’s bunkering method is so-called truck-to-ship – the gas is pumped directly from the semi-trailers into the ship. The duration of pumping is four hours and it takes place at night time.

The goal of Eesti Gaas is to complement its product portfolio with the direction of LNG in the upcoming years. The plan is supported by the fact that since 2015, the sulphur content of ship fuel in the Baltic Sea region may not surpass 0,1 percent. In order to fulfil this goal, ship owners can use fuel with low sulphur content, install cleaning mechanisms or start using LNG. LNG has a very high energy content, its usage does not require access to gas distribution network. LNG is used in energy production, land and sea transportation. It is more cost efficient than the heating oil.

AS Eesti Gaas operates in land gas and electricity sales. The concern includes AS AG Ehitus, specialized on engineering and construction of gas piping and structures and AS Gaasivõrgud providing distribution service. The company owns five compression land gas stations in Estonia. Eesti Gaas employs more than 200 people; the company has 1 600 business and 42 000 domestic customers.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/jrcx30

More information: www.gaas.ee; info@gaas.ee

The corner stone of Tallink Tennis Center built in Tallinn was laid on 13th of June. The center will cost 10 million Euros and will contain 14 tennis courts, 10 badminton courts, 3 group training halls and a large gym and fitness area. “Tallink Tennis Center is the first investment of Infortar into the major project, the 70 000 square meter large shopping and entertainment center Tallink City. Currently we negotiate with potential tenants and work on designing the budget and confirmations. We plan to take the final decision on the investment in fall“, said Chairman of the Board of AS Infortar, Mr. Ain Hanschmidt. 

According to the President of Estonian Tennis Federation and the Chairman of Supervisory Board in AS Tallink Grupp, Mr. Enn Pant the new tennis center will help to increase the possibilities for tennis in Estonia immensely. „The lack of space and the pricing of the competitors should not be the reason why playing tennis is not available. We will open the online booking for courts already in August and the center itself in December“, said Pant.

The subsidiary of AS Infortar, Inf Maja OÜ has ordered the construction of tennis center with the overall area of 14 500 square meters. The center is built by the golden sponsor of Estonian Tennis Federation, AS Merko Ehitus Eesti. Special attention is paid at the lighting and acoustics of the tennis center, the walls will be built of sound absorbing materials. The ceiling above the courts will be put on the bridges as high as 25 meters, which helps to avoid supporting pillars between the courts. 
 

Trilini Energy OÜ (a subsidiary of AS Infortar) has concluded the agreement with Gazprom for purchase of 37% of AS Eesti Gaas shares. If the contract comes into force and is approved by the Competition Board, Trilini Energy ownership in Eesti Gaas will increase to 88%. “We are moving forward according to the plan – in February we purchased 51% of shares from Fortum, now – 37% from Gazprom. The offer we made to Gazprom was similar to that made to Fortum,” says a member of the management board of AS Infortar and the chairman of the council of AS Eesti Gaas Ain Hanschmidt. “As the next step of increasing our share in Eesti Gaas we will negotiate with Itera Latvija that owns 10% of Eesti Gaas shares, and then with minority shareholders,” adds Hanschmidt.

On 23 February this year OÜ Trilini Enery has concluded the contract for purchase of 51% of shares of AS Eesti Gaas with Fortum Heat and Gas OY. In March the Competition Board issued its approval for the transaction. In April the general meeting of Eesti Gaas appointed the new council that has approved Ants Noot – a former chancellor of the Ministry of Agriculture and one of the most experienced top managers in Estonia – as the chairman of the management board.

AS Eesti Gaas is engaged in sales of natural gas and electricity to home and business consumers. The group of companies consists of AS EG Ehitus that focuses on design and construction of gas pipelines and facilities and AS Gaasivõrgud that provides distribution services. The company owns five gas fueling stations in Estonia. Eesti Gaas employs 205 persons. According to unaudited data the group’s turnover for the past year amounted to 130 million euros. In 2015 AS Eesti Gaas sold 386 million m³ of natural gas and 9.7 GWh of electricity. The company has 1,570 business consumers and 41,160 home consumers.

The extraordinary general meeting of AS Eesti Gaas, held April 15, elected Ain Hanschmidt, Chairman of the Management Board of AS Infortar, Eve Pant, Member of the Management Board of AS Infortar, Leena Fedossejeva, Investment Director of AS Infortar and Martti Talgre,  CEO of AS Infortar as well as Viktor Golinski, transit entrepreneur as members of the company’s Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board elected Ain Hanschmidt as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

“Today, the general meeting elected representatives of the new majority shareholder to replace the representatives of Fortum, former owner of Eesti Gaas, enabling us to appropriately manage the company and implement relevant expansion plans,“ noted Ain Hanschmidt, Chairman of the Management Board of the investment company AS Infortar and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Gaas. “The company’s annual report is to be approved at the annual general meeting in June and we will most likely amend the Articles of Association as well and reduce the number of members of the Supervisory Board, consisting of  11 members today,” said Hanschmidt.

Next to the new members, the other members of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Gaas are Aarne Saar, Juris Savickis and the representatives of Gazprom: Jury Bezzubov, Georgy Fokin, Aleksander Mikheev, and Boris Posyagin.

The holding enterprise Infortar AS owns 57% of the shares of Trilini Energy OÜ, founded for the purpose of acquiring a shareholding in Eesti Gaas. Next to Infortar, the company’s circle of owners includes Aarne Saar, long-term member of the Management Board and Supervisory Board of AS Eesti Gaas , Juris Savickis, Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Latvijas Gazeand Viktor Golinski, a transit entrepreneur.

AS Infortar has a majority sharehold in OÜ Trilini Energy, which entered into a contract with Fortum Heat and Gas OY to purchase a 51% sharehold in AS Eesti Gaas. Trilini Energy has made an offer of purchase to Gazprom, which holds 37% of shares in Eesti Gaas, and to Itera Latvija, which holds 10% of shares. Minority shareholders hold 1,57% of shares in Eesti Gaas.
The aim for Infortar is to bring more competition to the energy market with the help of local capital, raise the quality of customer service and to offer new products. “We wish to expand the use of natural gas – the most environmentally-friendly fuel – in both energy and transport, to develop competitive electrical products and support our customers’ business operations through effective integrated solutions,” said Mr Ain Hanschmidt, CEO of Infortar AS.

AS Eesti Gaas is engaged in the sale of natural gas and electricity. The group consists of AS EG Ehitus, which is concered with the design and constuction of gas pipelines and facilities, and AS Gaasivõrgud, which provides a distributional service. The company owns five gas filling stations accross Estonia. Eesti Gaas employs 205 individuals, the turnover of the Group last year amounted to 130 million euros according to unaudited data. AS Eesti Gaas sold 386 million m³ of natural gas in 2015, the Group has 1570 business clients and 41 160 private clients. Eesti Gaas also sells electricity to business and private clients, amounting to 9,7 GWh last year.

More information: http://www.gaas.ee

The center (planned to be ready by the end of 2016) will have altogether 14 tennis courts, 10 badminton courts, 3 group training areas, a fitness room and several other visitor and personnel areas. The Chairman of Supervisory Board of Infortar and Tallink Group, Mr Enn Pant said that building a new tennis centre to Tallinn was necessary due to the ongoing lack of tennis courts in the country, influencing all tennis players. “Our goal is to make playing tennis available for all who are interested and that no child should quit because the tennis court rents can reach up to 50 euros per hour as for instance at Tere tennis centre. Also, we hope that the aim to support the development of children’s and youth’s sporting activities as well as healthy lifestyle, enables the future Tallink Tennis Centre to receive support from the city as the current Tere tennis centre does”, said Mr Pant.

More information:

Luulea Lääne, Communication Director, AS Tallink Grupp, tel: +372 5521296 (also intermediates the questions to AS Infortar in this case)

Tallink opened one of the most modern logistics centers in the region. Tallink Logistics Centre coordinating the logistics of the goods for the fleet, hotels and offices of AS Tallink Grupp is opened near Tallinn, being one of the largest in the region. The company will employ up to 20 new employees, altogether there will be up to 60 people working for the center. The centre is 14,500 square metres and has over 12 kilometres of shelves. Annually, it is able to release 1 million product lines and the plan is to send out 2,500 trailers of goods to ships only per year. The centre will receive 5,000 trucks and 100,000 pallets per year.

More information: http://www.tallink.com

Infortar’s affiliated company, Tallink Group, purchased an eco-friendly LNG-powered ferry to service the Tallinn-Helsinki route. The new fast ferry will be named Megastar. The ship costs around 230 million euros and will be in operation in the beginning of 2017. The new eco-friendly ship uses LNG as fuel and she will comply with the new and stricter emission regulations for the ECA areas including the Baltic Sea. The ship, with a gross tonnage of 49 000 and service speed of 27 knots, will bring significant improvement in energy efficiency. The highly innovative hull form minimises the flow resistance and ensures that the ship operates well in ice conditions.

More information: http://www.tallink.com

In the fourth quarter of the 2015 financial year (October-December) AS Tallink Grupp transported 2,125,361 passengers which is nearly a 4% increase compared to the previous year. The number of cargo units is slightly higher with 78,136 units transported and the number of passenger vehicles increased by 3% to 251,756 units in the same comparison.

More information: http://www.tallink.com

Infortar increased its Tallink Group stake. Ain Hanschmidt, the Chairman of Management Board of Infortar, emphasised his confidence in Tallink and said that acquiring an additional 13.5 million shares of Tallink Group was attractive because of the price and the fact that he believes in Tallink. The newly added shares increased Infortar’s position in the company by 2%. Infortar now holds 38% shares of Tallink Group.

More information: info@infortar.ee

Tallink Superfast Limited, a subsidiary of Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, has entered into an agreement with Italy’s Medinvest SpA (Corsica Ferries Group) to sell the fast ferry Superstar for EUR 91.5 million (USD 98.3 million). The sale prepares the group for the delivery of the new generation LNG fast ferry to the Tallinn-Helsinki route in early 2017.

More information: http://www.tallink.com

Infortar, majority owner of Tallink – the mightiest ship firm on Baltic Sea – will obtain a main chunk of Estonian Air next spring should the European Commission pronounce the near €25m of state aid granted the airline as lawful.

Link: http://news.postimees.ee/2973445/tallink-guys-buy-national-airline

Infortar, an investment company associated with Tallink, could buy out the entire national carrier, not just become a major shareholder, said Ahti Kuningas, the chairman of Estonian Air’s supervisory board.

“Today we have said that the private-sector investor should own more than half of the shares, meaning it has the majority and the right to make decisions, but the precise percentage depends on the government’s decision,” Kuningas told ERR radio today.

Link: http://news.err.ee/v/economy/16989f96-95be-4cc4-8858-824cf9f4bc03/infortar-could-buy-entire-company-says-state